Saturday, April 05, 2014

Today is Lizzie's 21st
birthday, way out there in Kansas. Happy birthday, Lizzie!

Scotland

It's a separate country, however the
referendum goes.

There are two big news stories here
this morning. I have been dozing and listening to the Today
programme, as every morning – I don't think either item was even mentioned.

One was the death yesterday afternoon of Margo MacDonald, a
much-loved member of the Scottish parliament. A nationalist in
sentiment, but too cheerful and honest a woman to get along well in
any party. Latterly, she sat as an independent, a party of one. The
electorate loved and appreciated her, if the politicians didn't –
it isn't easy to get elected as an independent. She had Parkinson's
and had recently been agitating in favour of assisted suicide.

The other was the announcement by the
Pope of an enquiry into the behaviour of Cardinal O'Brien. This is
pretty well unprecedented. He is sending a brisk Maltese archbishop
to deal with things. O'Brien – you will remember, because I have
often written of him – was forced to resign just before the
conclave last year when three serving priests and an ex-seminarian
accused him of improper behaviour towards them 30 years ago.

Since then, the Cardinal has been
living very quietly, apparently in a monastery in the north of
England. He wants to come home to Scotland and help out in the parish of Dunbar.
The priest there is a friend, and the parish has voted overwhelmingly
to welcome him. But he was apparently ordered to stay away, outwith the country. His friend Margo MacDonald remarked, “He has lost
everything. Isn't that enough?”

The four accusers remain anonymous –
I'm not even absolutely sure the church authorities know who they
are. They communicate with the world through a journalist. And the
crimes of which they accuse the Cardinal remain unspecified. He said
when he resigned the archbishopric of St Andrews and Edinburgh that
his conduct had fallen below the standard expected of him. An
unwelcome hand on the knee? Homosexual rape?

The journalist appeared on television
last night to say that this is too sudden (the Maltese archbishop
will be here next week) and the accusers need more time to prepare
and don't want to declare themselves to their superiors and this is
no way to run an enquiry (so much for the Pope). The BBC said at one
point yesterday that it would be a public enquiry – that's hard to
believe, but I very much hope we will at last, at least, learn the identities of
the accusers and the nature of the crimes. I am sure that half the
world believes the Cardinal was systematically abusing altar boys,
but there has never been the slightest suggestion of paedophilia, in
fact.

Knitting

All continues well with the Bridal
Shawl, except for that troublesome corner. I'm nearly finished with
round 27 (of 136). I have reduced the two pivot stitches back down to
one, and I'm not wrapping it. Henceforth I will slip it at the
beginning of each round, and knit it at the end. All four corners
puff outward slightly, presumably because of having frequent YO's on
either side of the centre stitch. I assume they will all lie flat
once released from the needle and blocked.

So it's hard to say whether the messy
fourth corner is worse in that respect because of the previous extra knitting
of the pivot stitch or stitches. Or not.

1 comment:

I am headed up to Lawrence today to spend a couple of days with grandson who attends KU....If I see a birthday celebration anywhere I'll know that's Lizzie! This is also a birthday trip as my grandson turns 21 on the 24th. A little celebration with just the two of us.